1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



133 



of examination. ****** 

 To my mind, the study, with the 

 aid of high powers and various im- 

 proved means of examination, of the 

 phenomena which occur in living 

 matter during life, transcends in im- 

 portance at this time all other inqui- 

 ries in which the microscope takes a 

 leading part. For these changes 

 characterize every form of living 

 matter at every period of its being, 

 and in every condition of health and 

 disease. In every form of living 

 matter which exists or has ever exist- 

 ed, the great mystery of life and death 

 is enacted under our very eyes, but 

 we have not yet been able to dis- 

 cover the exact nature of the change, 

 though we can prove most conclu- 

 sively that it is not merely mechanical 

 or chemical, as some pertinaciously in- 

 sist. No chemist or physicist has 

 been able to explain the changes 

 which do occur, or has succeeded in 

 imitating them out of the living body. 

 The most diverse structures and the 

 most widely different chemical com- 

 pounds are produced by changes oc- 

 curring in particles of living matter 

 which could not be distinguished 

 from one another, and which are 

 equally devoid of color and structure. 

 Many of the current theories on the 

 nature of vital phenomena are not in 

 advance of some that were propound- 

 ed two thousand years ago ; and yet 

 men occupying high scientific posi- 

 tions are found to defend them, and 

 to repeat again and again statements 

 concerning the relation between the 

 living and non-living, which are at 

 variance, not only with facts familiar 

 to every one, but are contradicted by 

 the experience and knowledge every 

 person possesses concerning certain 

 vital phenomena of his own organism. 

 When a particle of living matter is 

 increasing in size — is growing by 

 taking lifeless matter into its sub- 

 stance, and, without itself losing any- 

 thing, is communicating to certain of 

 the elements of this non-living mat- 

 ter, or to combinations of these, the 

 marvellous powers it possesses — 



movements take place, it may be in 

 every part of the original mass. 

 These movements are, however, al- 

 ways most observable, most active, 

 and most extensive at some part of 

 the circumference. Occurring now 

 on one side, now on the opposite, it 

 is very improbable that the move- 

 ments in question are determined by 

 any changes occurring in, or by force 

 belonging to, any non-living matter in 

 the vicinity of the living mass. These 

 remarkable movements are universal 

 in the world of life. They are more 

 accelerated in some kinds of living 

 matter than in others, but they are 

 present in all, and in most are dis: 

 cernible at some time or other during 

 the course of existence. Parts of the 

 living matter continually tend to 

 move away and separate from the 

 rest, not in consequence of any at- 

 traction between these and surround- 

 ing matters outside, nor from any re- 

 pelling influence exerted by parts of 

 the mass itself upon other parts. 

 There seems to be an active tendency 

 on the part of different portions of 

 a living mass to move away from the 

 rest and so to detach themselves, 

 and, having acquired vital power, to 

 become independent, and to increase 

 and then divide. This remarkable 

 tendency on the part of every kind 

 of living matter to divide and subdi- 

 vide begins to operate as soon as the 

 original mass has attained a certain 

 size, and it seems to increase in in- 

 tensity as the living matter ap- 

 proaches its proper dimensions. In- 

 variably when a certain size has been 

 reached, which, however, is different 

 for different kinds of living matter, 

 division occurs. This size is always, 

 within certain very moderate limits, 

 fixed and definite for the living mat- 

 ter of each particular species of living 

 being. Among the lowest forms of 

 existence, however, no definite limit 

 of size has to be attained before divi- 

 sion can occur. Particles smaller 

 than the smallest particles that can 

 be seen with the aid of the highest 

 magnifying powers freely divide and 



